This pistachio cake is made with real pistachios and pistachio paste, full of pistachio flavor, topped and covered with pistachio buttercream frosting, and topped with chopped pistachios.
This easy pistachio cake is perfect for pistachio lovers! Pistachio is a nut that has a subtle flavor and goes perfectly in desserts.
Pistachio sponge cake is super easy to make and is made with chopped and ground pistachios and pistachio paste that gives the most perfect pistachio flavor.
If you are looking for more desserts, check out our pizookie, baileys cheesecake, lemon blueberry cookies, banana chocolate chip cake, bakery style chocolate chip cookies, chocolate fudge cake, and tiramisu cake.
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Why this recipe works
- Pistachio- This cake is made with real pistachios and pistachio paste and has a strong pistachio flavor that is added naturally!
- Frosting- this cake is topped and covered with the most delicious pistachio buttercream frosting that makes this cake perfect.
- Texture- this cake is fluffy and moist from the combination of vegetable oil, sour cream, butter, and vinegar (you can't taste the vinegar).
- Ease- this cake uses a super simple naked cake design that is foolproof.
- Made from scratch- this cake doesn't use cake mix or pudding mix, this cake is made from scratch from start to finish!
How to make even cake layers
Our biggest tip to make even cake layers is to use a scale and cake strips. Weigh the chocolate cake batter and divide it into two even pans.
Then use cake strips to make sure your cake layers bake evenly and don’t develop a dome on top. Cake strips give you an evenly baked cake with a flat top.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this pistachio cream cake recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and efficiently.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
For the cake
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of this dessert.
Eggs- you will need 4 large eggs for this recipe. Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe. cake flour will work great as well.
Baking powder– baking powder allows the cake to rise. Make sure that your baking powder is not expired.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Pistachios- we added pistachios to the cake batter. You will need to ground the pistachios until fine crumbs form. I used a blender, you can use a food processor as well.
Pistachio paste- you will need 3 tablespoon of pistachio paste for the cake layers. We used pure pistachio paste, but you can make your own pistachio paste at home just like you make almond butter!
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
Milk– gives the cake extra moisture. Use whole milk for this recipe.
Vegetable oil – we used vegetable oil for this recipe. canola oil will work great for this recipe.
Vinegar- is the secret ingredient that makes this cake extra moist and tender. You will need two teaspoons of vinegar for this recipe.
Sour cream- use either sour cream or Greek yogurt. Both will work great.
Kosher salt- you will need about ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt for this recipe.
For the pistachio buttercream
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of these delicious cookies.
Powder sugar- you will need powdered sugar for this recipe. you don’t have to buy powdered sugar, you can make it at home by blending granulated sugar in a blender or food processor.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
Pistachio paste- you will need 1 tablespoon of pistachio paste for the frosting. We used pure pistachio paste, but you can make your own pistachio paste at home just like you make almond butter!
Kosher salt- we like to use kosher salt.
Milk- use whole milk.
Instructions
Add the pistachios to a food processor or blender and blend until they are finely ground.
Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare 3 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, add the soft butter, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer until creamy and smooth for about 3 minutes.
Add the pistachio paste and mix until well combined.
Add the sour cream, eggs, chopped pistachios, vegetable oil, and vinegar, and mix until creamy and combined.
Add ½ of the flour, baking powder, and ½ of the milk. Mix until almost combined.
Add the rest of the flour, and milk and mix until just combined and there are no lumps of flour visible. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter into 3 8-inch baking pans and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick is inserted into the cake and comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool to room temperature and remove them from the pans.
Make the pistachio cream
Into a big mixing bowl, add the room-temperature butter, pistachio paste, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes until the buttercream is light in color and creamy.
Assemble the cake
Pipe a small dollop of the buttercream on the surface that you will frost on. Lay the first cake layer over the frosting dot.
Top the first cake layer with ⅓ of the buttercream and spread an even layer of the buttercream with a spatula.
Top the cake with the second cake layer. Repeat adding the buttercream and top with the third cake layer.
Frost the cake with the remaining buttercream and smooth it out with a spatula.
I like scraping some of the remaining buttercream to reveal the beautiful layers of the cake for a seminaked cake look, but it's not a must.
Sprinkle chopped pistachios around the edges of the cake and serve!
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Use cake strips! Cake strips give you even and perfectly baked cake layers. Click here for the amazon link.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your loaf cake will release easily from the pan.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least 1 hour so it will be firmer and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
Faq's
Pistachio cake is made with real unsalted pistachios and pistachio paste. It is made with a base of a vanilla cake with lots of chopped pistachios and pistachio paste and topped with pistachio buttercream.
We use all-purpose flour for this cake, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.
This cake is made with butter, vegetable oil, sour cream, and vinegar which makes this cake extra moist and fluffy. I couldn't believe how moist and tender this cake is.
This cake will last up to 4 days stored in the fridge. Cover the cake with plastic wrap or foil to prevent it from drying out. This cake tastes amazing for 4 days.
You can use peeled toasted or not toasted unsalted pistachios. Using salted pistachios will affect the flavor of these muffins.
Storing
This cake will last up to 5 in the fridge. Cover the cake with plastic wrap or foil to prevent it from drying out.
Freezing
Freeze this cake after it cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months, some people find the cake tastes better after freezing it.
our tip is not to freeze it decorated or covered with frosting, because it can ruin the decorating of the cake, we suggest freezing the cake and decorating it when you defrost it.
If you’re not looking to impress anyone with your decorating skills, it’s absolutely okay to freeze the cake with the frosting on.
Make it ahead
You can make this cake ahead by freezing the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap each cake layer with a few layers of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature for 1-2 hours or in the fridge overnight.
When you are ready to frost and assemble the cake, make the frosting, and assemble the cake!
Substitutions
There are a few substitutions that may be helpful for your diet:
Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, replace the flour with gluten-free flour. I never tried this recipe with gluten-free flour but it should work.
Dairy-free - you can make this cake dairy-free by replacing the butter with vegan butter and replacing the milk with vegan milk, replace the sour cream with vegan sour cream, or vegan yogurt.
Variations
Frosting- you can use your favorite frosting that fits pistachio flavor well like vanilla buttercream, mascarpone whipped cream, and cream cheese frosting.
Green color- if you want your cake to have a green color you can add a few drops of green food coloring or instant pistachio pudding.
Topping- you can decorate the cake in so many ways! Top it with fresh berries and chopped pistachios, pipe dollops of whipped cream around the edges of the cake, or make a drip design with white chocolate.
Nut- want to make this cake but don't have pistachios? Make this cake with your favorite nuts instead of pistachios.
Citrus- it is well known that pistachio and citrus are a great combination. If you want to spice up the cake and add some extra flavor, add 1 tablespoon of lemon zest or orange zest to the cake batter.
More pistachio recipes
Pistachio cheesecake- This pistachio cheesecake is luxurious, rich, creamy, made with plenty of real pistachios, and made without a water bath!
Pistachio muffins- These pistachio muffins are loaded with real pistachios and pistachio flavor! They are fluffy and moist and are topped with a pistachio crumble topping.
Pistachio baklava- This super delicious pistachio baklava is buttery, sweet, flakey, nutty, gooey, and surprisingly easy to make!
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📖 Recipe
Pistachio Cake W/ Pistachio Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 115 g Butter softened, unsalted
- 2 cups Granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 Eggs
- 2 teaspoon Vinegar
- ⅓ cup Sour cream
- 3 tablespoon Pistachio paste
- ¼ cup Vegetable oil
- ½ cup Pistachios chopped, unsalted
- 3 cups Flour
- 3 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 cup Milk
For the pistachio buttercream
- 350 g Butter
- 5 cups Powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon Pistachio paste
Instructions
- Add the pistachios to a food processor or blender and blend until they are finely ground.
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare 3 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper.
- In a big mixing bowl, add the soft butter, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer until creamy and smooth for about 3 minutes.
- Add the pistachio paste and mix until well combined.
- Add the sour cream, eggs, chopped pistachios, vegetable oil, and vinegar, and mix until creamy and combined.
- Add ½ of the flour, baking powder, and ½ of the milk. Mix until almost combined.
- Add the rest of the flour, and milk and mix until just combined and there are no lumps of flour visible. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter into 3 8-inch baking pans and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick is inserted into the cake and comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool to room temperature and remove them from the pans.
Make the pistachio buttercream frosting
- Into a big mixing bowl, add the room-temperature butter, pistachio paste, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes until the buttercream is light in color and creamy.
Assemble the cake
- Pipe a small dollop of the buttercream on the surface that you will frost on. Lay the first cake layer over the frosting dot.
- Top the first cake layer with ⅓ of the buttercream and spread an even layer of the buttercream with a spatula.
- Top the cake with the second cake layer. Repeat adding the buttercream and top with the third cake layer.
- Frost the cake with the remaining buttercream and smooth it out with a spatula.
- I like scraping some of the remaining buttercream to reveal the beautiful layers of the cake for a seminaked cake look, but it's not a must.
- Sprinkle chopped pistachios around the edges of the cake and serve!
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Use cake strips! Cake strips give you even and perfectly baked cake layers. Click here for the amazon link.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your loaf cake will release easily from the pan.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least 1 hour so it will be firmer and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
Laura says
Are the baking pans small? Like 3 8 inch is 9.5 centimeter?
RichandDelish says
Hi, 8 inches is 20 centimeters. Hope this helps 🙂
Jenjer says
Can I use buttermilk in place of the milk and vinegar?
RichandDelish says
Yes!